Asterisk*

Imagination and Inferences*

*In the wishes of dreams lost and made

The shoes of someone else

Is just as sour as the shoes of your own,

Laces brown,

Soles scuffed,

The inside a pit of despair.

Marcus

One day, there was a little boy who grew up in a small house. His parents first brought him home from the hospital on June first, where a big brother and multiple cousins waited for him. The mom was exhausted, as one would usually be. The suburban neighborhood dropped by every single day, offering their kids up for babysitting services and old toys ranging from dollar store plastic cars to giant playsets that kids could only imagine getting lost in. The dad took good care of everyone, taking off of work for a month. Cut to an outdoor shot of the house, and you would see the older brother playing, trying to entice the baby with things he was far too young to comprehend.

Three years later and the boy was talking. He liked to talk. The boy talked about everything. He didn't think or spent years forming his sentences, but instead spit them out whenever he felt like it. His parents thought they were funny sometimes. His brother tried to teach him new words he had learned at school. His uncles and aunts thought he was so smart, that he could have a career in public speaking.

At five, the boy went to kindergarten like all the other kids. He met two more boys that he recognized from his preschool class. They were funny. They liked him. They played together every single day. All three of them loved playing on the swing sets. They went up and down, just like life. The boy raised his hand in class when the teacher asked questions. The boy walked home with his brother every single day. They would wait for each other by the stop sign with the weird crossing guard.

At eleven, he went to middle school. He got his locker, where he learned to open a lock for the first time. He got his first kiss under a tree by the school by a girl who he used to sit next to in third grade. People made a really big deal about it for about a week before they moved on to the time some kid threw up in front of the entire class. He didn't really understand why it was so important. He only talked to that girl once after it all happened. They made jokes and then she moved away. The boy didn't really care as much as people told him he should.

At fourteen, he went to high school. He was on his own now. The older brother had left for college. They didn't talk anymore. The boy stopped talking that much. He didn't really know why. He still walked home every single day. The weird crossing guard had died last year. She got run over by a car.

When the boy turned fifteen, he stopped going trick or treating. His best friend discovered cigarettes and then discovered lung cancer risks and stopped smoking them. The boy wore a suit for the first time. The boy got the sex talk from his dad, even though he would never use it in his life. The boy realized he might like guys too. The boy kissed another boy. The two boys texted back a lot until the other boy disappeared from the internet. To this day, the boy doesn't know where the other boy went.

At sixteen, the three friends learned how to drive cars. The boy went to his first high school party. The boy didn't want to drink alcohol or hook up, so he asked his friend to drive him home. The boy went on his first date. He didn't really like her, but she was nice. They waved to each other in the hallways of the school occasionally. The boy discovered music he liked.

When the boy turned seventeen, he thought he was doomed for life. Everyone was moving on with their lives, and he was confused and scared. The boy wanted to be happy, but he didn't know how. The boy dyed his hair for the first time. It looked hideous. He felt lost in a sea of people who had it all figured out. The weird crossing guard had finally been replaced with another weird one. The second weird one got arrested for drunk driving a month later.